旅の小説家の記録

Perhaps in part due to yesterday’s post comparing KoG to the Hero’s Journey, what writing I did yesterday was mostly in the peripheral materials with a Gladian bent, but I also piddled around a little in The Boy King’s Madness. I started adding charas to the cast and such, thinking more on the millieu of the kingdom during the time the story takes place. I’m getting a bit of a Game of Thrones-ey vibe off this one. There’s political intrigue and such in my other books, sure, but the tone that’s developing is different and that’s the best way I can describe it. “Oh, great. I hope you aren’t inviting Mark’s son to any weddings.” Ha ha ha.

I kinda wish I’d finished Chapters 4 and 5 of Tico4 and I may actually devote a little time to doing that because I’m so far ahead on TTWC1. Finishing a chapter or two there would also be a nice goal for the week. Stay tuned.

I haven’t been doing much writing lately (or at least, not much writing that’s relevant here), but the poor blog is looking mighty lonely, so I’m whipping up this special post.

Although I don’t list George Lucas among my Three Pillars (more on the Three Pillars in a future post), the influence of Star Wars on me is undeniable. (Honestly, it’s almost impossible to imagine someone of my generation who isn’t strongly influenced by Star Wars.) Now, one of the things that made the Original Trilogy in particular so effective was how well it tapped into the monomyth. Those of you with even a passing familiarity with the creation of Star Wars is aware of the strong influence of Joseph Campbell on Lucas and how closely the original story follows the archetypical Hero’s Journey as detailed in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Now, you may find this hard to believe, but I actually haven’t read Campbell myself and I certainly wasn’t making a deliberate effort to follow the formula of the monomyth when I set out to write the Knight of Gladius series, but the way the story hits the notes is uncanny. Bear in mind that there’s nothing wrong with the monomyth formula. It’s a common thread of myth and legend transcending time and culture for a reason. If you believe in things like genetic memory and collective unconsciousness, I’d say the monomyth taps into them. Unless you’re a particularly gifted storyteller, sticking to the mold is actually strongly advisable. It doesn’t mean your story has to be stale and boring but rather that it meets certain expectations that connect with the audience. There’s still plenty of room to make the story your own and still provide a unique experience. You shouldn’t seek to be different just for the sake of being different. Tell a good story. Everything else worthwhile will follow.

Now, let’s get to the comparison of Knight of Gladius to the monomyth. By the by, this post is going to assume you’ve read the books, so if you haven’t, you may want to pick this up at a future date because there will be spoilers. We start with the ordinary world. KoG doesn’t actually show the ordinary world prior to the start of the adventure. Mark has already set out when we began. However, he spent eight years as a monk prior to the events of the books and this all tied into his primary denial of the call to adventure. You could argue that Mark has two separate hero’s journeys in the course of the series. The first occurs in his fight against Kyrios in Byrn ten years prior (as detailed in the Quest for the Pendants portion of KoG2) and the second is his return to Gladius and ultimate confrontation with Randwulf in KoG1 and 3. Note that I said Mark’s primary denial of the call because there’s a second layer to it as well. Most heroes in the monomyth are reluctant. For one reason or another, no matter how much they seem primed for adventure, when the time comes, they shrink from it. In KoG2, Mark doesn’t hesitate to seek out King Abdiy to have him account for the Dragon Guard’s attack on Tiberius. However, his experience that follows causes him to withdraw from fulfilling his potential as a hero, hence him retreating to the abbey. However, these stories can’t happen unless something pushes the hero onto the path. In Mark’s case, it’s years of yearning for his lost family and homeland rather than something as dramatic as stormtroopers razing the family farm. In Star Wars, Luke is cut off from his ordinary world, giving him nowhere to go but forward on his journey. In Mark’s case, his own actions sever his ties to the ordinary world as he’d already taken his permanent vows and breaking his vow of stability cuts him off from his order. Might he have returned to the abbey if he knew it was waiting for him? Probably not, honestly, but it probably would’ve increased his reluctance. (Part of me almost wishes Mark began his venture to Gladius still as a full-fledged monk and then is forced to take up the sword as circumstances demand. Perhaps there’s an If Arc story in there.)

Usually there’s a mentor figure who shows up to guide the hero in the early stage of the adventure. At first, Shadowstryke appears to be this, but he simply accompanies Mark on the way to Stormtree, where he was already headed (though, admittedly, he had gotten himself a bit lost in the Ancient Forest). Shadowstryke actually does a lot of work putting the pieces in place behind the scenes, but you see little of it in the story proper. He appears in Chapter 1 of KoG1 and doesn’t return until late in KoG3. Felix is closer to the archetype, showing up as Mark enters the second phase of his journey. Again, the monomyth doesn’t require you to slavishly hit every single point in exactly the same way. There are just common threads that come together over the course of the narrative.

You can argue that Mark crosses the first threshold when he leaves Byrn. Alternatively, you could call his entry into Stormtree the first threshold. Either one would make sense. From here we begin to acquire and test allies and enemies. In KoG1, the party is steadily assembled as Mark travels through the kingdom and he picks up a minor antagonist in the form of Harald Svenson, as Randwulf himself is off in Byrn trying to seek out the Eagle in the East two steps behind the game. The time in hiding after Mark’s rescue from Corinth is an especially nice bit where the party’s relationship is cemented.

I mentioned before that Mark’s denial of the call to adventure is two-layered. This is because you can argue that his overarching journey through KoG1 and 3 are actually two separate ones. His first denial involved him remaining in Byrn and the second was his refusal to fight in the rebellion against Randwulf. The arc of KoG1 brings him to the point of being ready to fight against Randwulf, which is then brought to completion in KoG3. In this sense, Felix better fits the mentor archetype for this second journey. (We also have the introduction of new allies in KoG3, with Catherine, Stefan and Ignatiy tying in KoG2 and Adrienne and Giles providing the connection to Randwulf’s side.)

I had to bring in this “two journey” concept before we move to the innermost cave. In KoG1, its a literal cave in Mount Vulcan where Mark’s party is captured by the Inkari Tribe and he then fights Mar Kurin to reclaim the gear of the Guardians. The supreme ordeal that follows results in the “death” of the pacifistic monk and Mark’s rebirth as a warrior. He then grasps the sword, both literally by taking up his father’s sword and figuratively by claiming his heritage as the Guardian. The road back takes him to Darkwall and the Battle of the Crimson Field, but this is an indecisive conclusion, which forces him to start over on a second journey. Pegging the innermost cave in KoG3 is a little trickier. Part of me wants to say it’s the Warrior’s Triad, but I’m more inclined to say it’s Darkwall. The supreme ordeal here is Mark’s confrontation with Randwulf, resulting in his “death” when Showblight destroys the keep and his rebirth having overcome his original quest to uncover the truth about the fate of his family. Rather than a sword (literal or figurative), we’ll say he’s claimed an “elixir” in this second journey, which allows him to assume his role as a leader in the new kingdom formed after Randwulf’s defeat.

It’s perhaps fitting that my first story would be the most archetypical. I suppose I could do the same with my other stories, but I imagine it wouldn’t fit quite as neatly. For instance, in the Tico series, Matt is effectively the protagonist, but it really isn’t his story alone. Perhaps each of the main characters have their own hero’s journey but Heaven help me if I’d try to pin all that down. Anyway, I hope you found all this interesting. Now let’s see if I can get back to doing some story writing.

I made good progress on Chapter 4 of Tico4 and did a little work on Chapter 5 as well. As you’ve heard me gripe many a time before, Chapter 4 is a monster, but I stand to have it mostly done before the week is out. That’ll certainly be a relief. Stay tuned.

I mostly finished Xenomachos’ Chapter 3 in TTWC1 and did a little work on Xorgoth’s Chapter 5 in TTWC2. There was also some piddling around in the peripheral materials. The day may yet come when I torture you with long passages in Low Elvish. No, not really. I prefer the translation convention style I’ve adopted when moving about in mutually intelligible languages. Should my works ever get a voiced adaptation, though, it may prove to be more of a pain. Fun for the future.

I made some good progress, pretty well finishing up Corona’s section (Chapter 3 through the epilogue). Yes, I know Xenomachos comes before her, but I’m fonder of her as a character. Speaking of Xenomachos, though, once I finish his chapters, I’ll effectively be done with TTWC1, though the book won’t finish its serial run until next year on the current schedule. That could potentially mean a lot of lead time on TTWC2 before it kicks off. That doesn’t sound like a bad deal. Because I really want to be diving into The Brothers Pendragon, I may start working on it concurrently. Probably won’t serialize it concurrently, though. I do like having only one novel in a particular Arc running at a time. (Though I suppose if I get that far ahead of the game, I could adopt a weekly schedule as opposed to a biweekly one.) Anyway, these are all points for me to ponder. Maybe I can make the same kind of progress in Tico4 this week. Stay tuned.

I mostly finished Gamaliel’s Chapter 5 and Xenomachos’ Prologue in TTWC1. I also rewrote much of Xorgoth’s Prologue and jotted down some dialog for his Chapter 1 in TTWC2. And to mix things up, I also worked on a scene from Ladybug, Ladybug There was also a fair bit of work in the peripheral materials, to include adjusting the heights of several species, prompting successive changes throughout my character database. Dwarves and Goblins are now a good ten inches shorter on average, among other things.

Speaking of Dwarves, while trying to figure out an adjectival form of “Nanos”, I came to discover that my Greek was worse than I thought (and trust me, the bar is set rather low). While doing some double-checking, I came to realize that “Xotika” is plural, not singular. At first, I was doing a lot of search and replace, but then I decided that the proper singular “Xotiko” wasn’t quite as euphonic as I’d like. Seeing as how I was already taking liberties with the language, I opted to make “Xotika” serve as both the singular and the plural and simply chalk it up to dialect. (Any actual Greek speakers in the audience may take some offense at this, but anyone familiar with my work knows that I bend language to my purposes and not the other way around, as evidenced by the many idiosyncrasies of my writing.) I did at least eliminate the incorrect plural form “Xotikes”, for whatever that’s worth.

Made a little more progress in Gamaliel’s Chapter 5 of TTWC1. Jotted down a few paragraphs in a related chapter in TTWC2 lest I forget the relevant details. Also did some assorted work in the peripheral materials. There may be hope yet of finishing Chapter 5 before the weekend is out. Stay tuned.

Still inching along in Gamaliel’s Chapter 5 of TTWC1. Trying to decide how much of the battle I actually want to show. I’ve noticed I have a bit of a habit in this book of teasing the big battle scenes. Got to keep traditions going, don’t I? We’ll see. Honestly, you drag out a battle sequence too long and it starts to get tedious. Perhaps I’ll show just enough that you get a feel for how it’s going to play out. That seems fair. Stay tuned.

Yesterday I was a little too preoccupied to get a post out, but all I would’ve reported is more work in the Cross Arc peripheral materials. My love of big, convoluted family trees knows no bounds, it would seem. I followed this up with a little progress on Gamaliel’s Chapter 5 yesterday. It’d be nice to get the chapter done this week and be finished with Gamaliel’s section, but I don’t know if it’ll happen or not. Stay tuned.

I spent a fair bit of time playing around in the peripheral materials of the Cross Arc. At first I was going to integrate some ideas about the consolidation of power in the Sol System, but it turns out that I already had those ideas, so I looked to expand on some related information. In particular, I was working on the genealogy of the Imperial line on Earth. You know how much I love crafting family trees. I may continue to play with this stuff for a while before I turn my attention to TTWC1, provided I actually have any time for writing this week. Stay tuned.